New York City and James Blake Resolve Excessive-Force Claim

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James Blake in 2015. The City of New York will create a legal fellowship in Mr. Blake’s name within the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the agency that investigates police misconduct.CreditCreditJoshua Bright for The New York Times

James Blake, a retired tennis star, had the makings of a lucrative lawsuit when a New York City police officer roughed him up two years ago: vivid surveillance video, the officer’s history of force complaints, and hasty apologies from the mayor and the police commissioner. But Mr. Blake spurned a potential payout from the city for a less orthodox resolution: The city is set to announce on Wednesday that it will create a legal fellowship in Mr. Blake’s name within the agency that investigates police misconduct.

The fellow, set to join the review board in January, will perform outreach in neighborhoods with a high volume of police complaints to help the agency close more of its investigations. Last year the agency cut short 55 percent of its investigations, mostly because victims or witnesses stopped cooperating and in other cases because the agency could not reach those people or because someone withdrew a complaint.

Mr. Blake spoke publicly soon after his arrest about the fact that most victims of police brutality have neither the money nor visibility, as he did, to elicit a public apology and a swift investigation. In compelling the city to hire the fellow, Mr. Blake sought to add an advocate for those victims — many of them in poor neighborhoods outside Manhattan — as they navigate the complaint process.

The night after he was thrown to the ground by Officer Frascatore, Mr. Blake began looking for alternatives to a lawsuit, his lawyer, Kevin H. Marino, said.

“He said, ‘I’m certainly not interested in filing a lawsuit against the city to recoup money for me, but I would very much like to use this fortuitous event to make a real difference,’” Mr. Marino recalled.

Mr. Blake, who is 37 and was once ranked No. 4 in the world in singles tennis, was waiting outside a Midtown hotel to be taken to an event at the United States Open when officers mistook him for a suspect in a credit card fraud ring case. The officers failed to report the mistaken arrest, as they were required to do, raising the possibility that it would never have come to light had Mr. Blake not spoken out.

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A video still of Mr. Blake being arrested in front of a hotel in Midtown Manhattan by Officer James Frascatore in September 2015.Creditvia New York Police Department

Mr. Blake’s father is black, and his mother is white. Officer Frascatore is white.

Officer Frascatore, 40, has so far avoided a public disciplinary hearing on excessive-force charges that were brought in 2015 by the review board. He had been scheduled to go on trial last month in an administrative proceeding but instead is working toward a deal with the review board. The officer’s lawyers and prosecutors from the review board are expected to meet in the coming weeks.

In a statement on the agreement with Mr. Blake, Mayor Bill de Blasio said, “The tireless efforts of committed and qualified fellows will help deliver on the transparency and accountability civilians and police officers deserve by ensuring that more complaints are thoroughly investigated and more cases are closed.”

The review board already has four outreach workers, who attend community meetings to talk about the work of the board. But the new fellow will focus on educating people about the often arduous complaint process and the sworn statements that are necessary to prevent a case from being closed prematurely.

The fellow, a lawyer who will serve for two years, will be screened by the city’s Law Department and the review board. The city has agreed to fund the fellowship for six years and will pay the fellow no less than $65,000, in line with other review board jobs, a Law Department spokesman said. The money will come out of the review board’s budget.

As part of the agreement, under which Mr. Blake agreed to withdraw a notice of claim he had filed against the city, the city will also pay a little less than $175,000 to cover travel costs for Mr. Blake and fees incurred by his legal team over the nearly two years of negotiations.

A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 21 of the New York edition with the headline: Ex-Tennis Star and City Close Excessive-Force Case. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe